One Year Later...

It's been one year since I left the 'comfort' of my 9-5 job at UPEI and hurled myself into the world of unemployment. Well, maybe it wasn't quite that dramatic, but it's never easy to leave something lucrative and secure for something that is neither of those things. Still, once I'd made my mind up about leaving and hammered out my exit plan, I didn't have any second thoughts about whether it was the 'right' decision.  I intuitively knew I had to leave in order to remain aligned with my heart's desires. The 9-5 had afforded me the ability to move back to PEI, build some savings and start developing a network during my off-work hours.

And now, here I am a year later. The world has opened its arms to me and there seem to be a litany of opportunities within my grasp. I've started my own consulting business and have already had clients (blink), I'm working with an awesome start-up, and I'm continuing to expand my social and professional networks and meeting amazing people in the process.  Most importantly, I wake up every day with a sense of purpose and excitement. I always knew I wasn't cut out for regular employment, but I didn't realize that I'd actually be so fond of self employment. Mind you, I do realize it's early days and maybe at some point the appeal will dull a bit (likely when I'm relegated to buying discount Mr. Noodles due to a dry spell of contracts). Until then, however, I'm going to ride this wave and enjoy it.

So, you know, life is hunky dory.

Well, except for one wee, nagging little thing that I have to figure out...

Flashback to October 2011: Shannon enrolls in the Natural Nutrition Program with the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition with the intent of getting her Registered Holistic Nutrition designation within two years.

Flash forward to March 2014: Shannon has paid for the nutrition program in full ($3,500) and paid a small extension fee, which will allow her until Oct. 2014 to complete the program requirements. She's spent countless hours studying and completed 75% of the coursework/assignments.

Seems like a no-brainer right? I'm at the tail end of the program, I'm fully committed money-wise and I've got til October to finish up.

The thing is, I'm just not convinced that I have it in me to do the consulting gig AND finish my program. By stretching out my studies, I think my retention of the topics I've studied thusfar has been minimal and the biggest hurdles of the program are the ones that remain: Bio-Chemistry course, 10 Nutritional Case Studies (these are a helluva a lot of work) and the final exam (gulp).

I know it can  be done, but taking on ALL the things might just burn me out. I've come to the conclusion that there's a threshold for the amount of work I can take on and after I pass that threshold, I'm really no fun to be around and all of my work suffers. Basically. I implode.  Not good.  So, I'm a little uncertain of what to do. I know I'll figure it out and writing this blog post is part of the process of figuring it out. Even as I am writing this, I find myself leaning towards trying to finish the program at an even-keeled pace.  I'm going to see if my intuition gives me any further direction over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.